re: #108 Targetpractice

It’s a numbers-filed-off variant of the classic “Lincoln wanted a war” argument that the “Lost Cause” crowd is fond of. If you’ve ever heard a wingnut natter on about how Lincoln provoked the war by refusing to abandon Fort Sumter and that he went to war rather than pursuing diplomacy, then Hitchens’ arguments are nothing new and make even less sense. Attacking the war by saying that it wasn’t about the Holocaust is like saying that the Civil War “wasn’t about slavery,” it’s a way to insist that any noble goals of the war were convenient lies to mask wars of aggression.

weeellll… the war in fact WASN’T about the Holocaust. In the 1930’s, when every Jew in Europe was desperately trying to get to the UK or the US, they were accused of being drama queens.who either a) were exaggerating the danger they were in, or b) so what, let them die. It wasn’t until post-war photos and and film made that position untenable the Brits and Americans tried to backdate their concern for the oppressed.

The UK went to war because V2’s were falling on them, and an imminent invasion seemed likely. The US went to war because if the UK fell, we’d be attacked next. (plus Pearl Harbor).